


Le promets petite

by HeartbeatsAreMySymphony



Category: Dunkirk (2017)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-12-22 16:12:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11970963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeartbeatsAreMySymphony/pseuds/HeartbeatsAreMySymphony
Summary: When they broke apart, they stood watching one another, thanking God for the chance to be together at least once more, before they were thrown back to the wolves.





	Le promets petite

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [Dunkirk_Little_Ships_Fest](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Dunkirk_Little_Ships_Fest) collection. 



> So... I totally ended up making a u-turn with this one. The prompt had asked for fluff, and my perpetually-angsty self wrote, you guessed it, angst. Anon, I am so sorry I did not fill your prompt exactly as you wanted, but, hopefully this is satisfactory!

Prompt: Gibson manages to escape the ship (he doesn't die (I'm still salty about his death)) and swims to one of the boats, where he's rescued. Tommy and Gibson have a fluffy reunion.

 

_Recomended Listening: Don’t Let Me Go —RAIGN_

* * *

 

_All I can give you is memories_

_Carry them with you and I'll never leave_

_Forever is not enough_

_Let me lay my head down on the shadow by your side_

 

 

The taste of salt and panic overwhelmed the Frenchman, as he fought his way to the surface: eyes wide and lungs burning. It had been chaos when the boat had started sinking, limbs flailing around as their owners struggled to get to oxygen. All he could think of was surviving… and Tommy. He knew the other would be fine without him, but even only having met a couple days ago, there was something about him that kept him addicted: kept him wanting more.

 

* * *

 

He survived. Somehow, against all odds, he was still kicking. He’d managed to escape the sinking ship just in time, and be lugged into one of the civilian boats, then taken to Dover, England. The whole trip he was silent, in silent company, as the other soldiers jittered in shock and cold. He doesn’t remember much, after that. It all becomes a blur, his memories becoming conjoined and estranged, muddled by the effect of the water.

 

* * *

 

They’re taken to a small British village. It’s a pit-stop, really, on the way back to the front. Somehow, he manages to keep his charade strong and unquestioned. There are others who don’t speak, and he’s just regarded as another one of them: as another one too scarred from the events on the French beach. All the while, he’s left alone, nothing but his thoughts to keep him company. It’s easier, in a way— not being attached to someone. The growing apathy becomes easier to embrace, when you have no one worth loving.

 

* * *

 

And life goes on. It’s funny, that. Life.

 

* * *

 

It’s on the third day in the village that he sees him. He was was sat outside, on a bench, eating the lunch provided for them, when he catches a glimpse of the pretty british boy he had grown to care so much about. He was walking down the street, next to that other soldier: the one with the brown hair and ugly soul. He was smiling, at something the other had said, and then he was gone. As though he weren’t real, and just an apparition of the Frenchman’s broken mind. He sat there, waiting for another chance to see the Brit again, until it grew dark and cold, and he retired back to the barracks.

 

* * *

 

_It’s not until the fifth day, the one before the last._

_He decided to stay sleeping instead of getting breakfast that day, and had basked in the full loneliness of the empty barrack. He slept, as peacefully as he could, until the creaking of the opening of the door roused him back to consciousness. There he was. Just as he remembered him, black hair and freckled cheeks, hazel eyes and calming breaths._

_“You’re alive,” he stated, then swallowed. “Alex told me you died.”_

_He watched the boy, whose eyes were sad, yet…_ something _. He couldn’t understand what he was saying, but all he wanted to do was listen to his voice, until the end of eternity._

_“I thought you died.” His voice cracked, and he had gotten close enough for the subject of his statement to feel the warmth of his breath on his face._

_He’s not sure what it was that compelled him, but then he was sitting up, standing up, and bringing the british boy into a bone crushing hug. He cradled the smaller boy’s head in his hands, rocking them back and forth as he sobbed into his chest._

_“I thought you died, I thought you died, I thought…” the Englishman continued to cry, repeating the stale words over and over again, until they became meaningless sobs in the back of his throat._

_He clung onto him, as though he would suddenly vanish into nothingness, leaving him to despair in the cold and bitter darkness of isolated heartbreak._

_“I thought…” he sniffled, looked up at the Frenchman, then brought his mouth to the other’s. It was so soft, so tender, that he would go on to wonder whether it had actually happened, or was just a figment of his shattered imagination. When they broke apart, they stood watching one another, thanking God for the chance to be together at least once more, before they were thrown back to the wolves._

 

* * *

 

It was endless. The Endless War. At least, it felt like that. It felt fruitless and futile, but the daunting future of Nazi world-domination was enough to make an endless war worth endless fighting. _He_ was worth endless fighting for. So, he would walk into the fields; head first; face to face with Death; fear in his bones, courage in his heart; hazel eyes and freckled cheeks seared into his memory.

 

* * *

 

  _“Un jour, nous serons ensemble à nouveau. Je te le promets.”_

**Author's Note:**

> This work is un-betad, so, if you spot any mistakes, do not hesitate to comment bellow! As always, please give kudos if you enjoyed, and/or would like to read more content like this :)


End file.
